Boris Johnson will today unveil plans for a significant decentralization of power of Whitehall over the next decade to underpin the government’s strategy to ‘level’ the UK.

A long-awaited 400-page white paper will outline the PM’s efforts to help ‘left behind’ regions who voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum and backed the Tories in the 2019 election. be criticized for not including new government funding.

Johnson has promised ‘the greatest devolution of power from Whitehall to local leaders across England in modern times’ by 2030, following the creation of town halls in Greater Manchester and Teesside in north England. ‘England.

The white paper invites nine English counties to apply for county devolution agreements, including Cornwall and Durham. Some existing mayors will be offered additional powers similar to those in London.

Thank you for reading FirstFT Europe/Africa. Here’s the rest of today’s news — Jennifer

Five other stories in the news

1. Putin: US trying to drag Russia into war Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of seeking to hold Russia back by dragging it into a dispute over Ukraine while insisting he wants talks with Washington and NATO to continue to avoid a “negative outcome”.

“Their most important goal is to contain the development of Russia. That’s what it’s all about” – Vladimir Putin at a press conference with the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban in Moscow.

• Opinion: If the Russian leader triumphs in Ukraine, his rogue style will gain new followers among world leaders, argues Gideon Rachman.

2. Alphabet Shows Increase in Search Engine Ad Revenue Shares of Google’s parent company soared nearly 9% last night, slashing its value to nearly $2 billion, as an unexpected surge in search advertising revenue raised hopes for Wall Street that the internet group’s momentum would continue as the pandemic receded.

3. Markets expect at least two ECB rate hikes in 2022 Investors are betting that persistently high inflation will force the European Central Bank to raise interest rates more than once this year, challenging the central bank’s insistence on freezing rates at historic lows in the less until next year.

4. Big Oil rediscovers arrogance ExxonMobil and Chevron last week reported combined net annual profits of nearly $38.6 billion for 2021, a change from losses of $27.6 billion in the first year of the pandemic, as US supermajors fend off questions about their long-term prospects.

5. Donald Trump kicks off 2022 with a $100 million war chest The former president started the year with a political war chest of more than $100 million, cementing his status as the Republican Party’s most formidable fundraiser ahead of November’s midterm elections as he eyes a another candidacy for the White House in 2024.

Summary of coronavirus

• Some Tory MPs once loyal to Boris Johnson have said the Prime Minister is expected to step down during the “partygate” affair. Separately, the UK wasted almost £10billion on faulty, unsuitable and overpriced goods individual protection equipment to meet demand at the height of the pandemic.

• Eurozone unemployment fell to a record low of 7% at the end of 2021.

• Amazon recruited 15,000 more British workers than expected last year as demand for home deliveries and digital services soared.

• Countries whose citizens trust his government and the other suffered significantly fewer Covid-19 infections, according to a new article published in The Lancet.

• The FT view: It is too early to tell whether the big resignation will herald a change in labor markets. It should be noted that Generation Z is particularly unhappy.

• Opinion: US Federal Reserve policy is still aggressively loose, even though the recovery and surge in inflation has long been clear, writes Martin Wolf.

• Higher inflation and a tighter labor market could usher in a new era of wage bargaining. Is the UK avoid a wage spiral?

The day ahead

Economic data Economists expect eurozone inflation to rise from a record 5% in December to 4.4% in January. Italy will release monthly consumer price index data. Register to our The road to healing newsletter to find out more businesses and the economy in a world transformed by the pandemic.

Old Company Football Game The lifting of Covid-19 restrictions will allow the Old Firm football game to be played in front of a crowd at Celtic Park in Glasgow.

business profits Vodafone is set to release a third quarter business update in the UK, while Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reports in the US. AbbVie, Banco Santander, Ferrari, Novartis, Panasonic, Sony, Spotify and Telenor also report results.

Join us for the The future of FT business training February 23. This event offers young professionals and seasoned executives an ideal opportunity to discover how to enrich their skills and accelerate their careers with an MBA.

What else we read

The new era of organ transplants After decades of anticipation, scientists are one step closer to being able to use modified animal organs to help solve a global human shortage. Fears that such transplants could transfer viruses from animals to humans, which nearly killed “xeno” research, have died down. Could such a medical innovation become a reality?

The Russian army learns from its past failures The international community is warning that Moscow is preparing for an operation very different from its recent lightning-fast deployment in Kazakhstan: a full invasion of Ukraine, after revising its military equipment, strategy and personnel.

Activist investors descend on ‘cheap’ UK companies From Vodafone to Unilever, a breed of activist shareholders shakes up corporate boards. With few sectors spared, these investors, lured by falling stock prices, are poised to influence the direction of UK businesses more than ever.

Has the Fed “put” been put to bed? Admitting that inflation is not quite a transitory phenomenon, the US Federal Reserve is on a mission. Its objective is to let hot inflation rise to compensate for the long era of disinflation. So don’t count on central bank intervention on market volatility, writes Liz Ann SondersChief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab.

How Noom handles vulnerable users A number of health coaches for the Silver Lake-backed weight loss app, speaking anonymously, raised concerns that Noom’s design and policies could lead vulnerable users to harm. Some messages said: “I’m bulimic”, “I’m bulimic” and “I hate myself”.

To travel

We asked readers to share their ‘happy places’ around the world – and we were transported from an Alaskan glacier to a Singaporean Eden, to a magical Roman ruin. Here’s what readers had to say.

“Not far from the Appian Way is this grotto surrounded by a sacred grove of holm oaks. . . It is the very image of the romantic ideal of the verdant and bucolic ruins of the ‘Campagna Romana’. And it’s 15 minutes by Vespa from my apartment” — Agnes Crawford, guide to Rome